The Skeleton Key - Cover Reveal

Here's the cover for our "witches at war" comic, The Skeleton Key - which introduces the Rowan Tree Legion.

The 48 page all ages comic has been created by Mhairi M Robertson and myself, and it will be released in October 2016, during the Galoshans Festival. We can't wait to share it with you.

Pirates Vs Witches

I Thought I was Undone artwork by Andy Lee

We've just about wrapped up all our funded programmes for this year, and are busy organising next year - hopefully some new comics in education projects on the go. Meantime, here's a few wee preview details from our current projects.

I Thought I Was Undone explores the facts and fantasy of the life of Scottish pirate Captain William Kidd - a favourite topic of Magic Torch. Artwork is by Andy Lee. Following the recent rediscovery of Kidd's "treasure", we were pleased to see many press reporting him as being originally from Greenock...not because we think that's 100% accurate, but just because it's cool to have a world famous pirate associated with your home town...

Our other book, The Skeleton Key is an all ages comic which follows the heroic efforts of a local coven during the Second World War. Sort of "Dad's Army with witches". Artwork for The Skeleton Key is by Mhairi Robertson, who has worked with us previously on Wee Nasties. Mhairi is also going to be working on the historical graphic novel The Stowaways, which will be out early in 2017.

You can find out more about Magic Torch's comic projects on our Magic Torch Comics website.

Balwearie Hall approach by Mhairi Robertson

Balwearie visit lineart by Mhairi Robertson

13 Commonwealth Tales - Free Download

You can now read/download our collection from last year online here on Scribd.

Or read it right now below...

Thirteen Commonwealth Tales

2014 - Year in Review

The endless, trudging march of time sees us once again stare bleary eyed into the uncertain future of a "new year" and "fresh start", while cursing the yawning chasm of empty darkness which now lies behind us. But we had a laugh eh? As the end approaches, a quick look back at our most read posts for this year, in no particular order...

Our main project focus for this year was 13 Commonwealth Tales, which explored folktales from other parts of the world, and also continued to encourage local storytelling. The project was supported by Big Lottery Celebrate funding.We all pitched in with our favourite stories and Mhairi did a smashing job on the artwork to create a storybook which we released during Doors Open Day in September. The 64 page book is available for free from Dutch Gable House and 7 1/2 John Wood Street, but will also be free online in January.

13 Commonwealth Tales cover by Mhairi

As well as details on the project itself, one of the most popular stories we shared on the blog (but which did not appear in the book) was the tale of Maddy Glasker...

Battle of Largs by Andy Lee

Details of our Viking comic strip exhibition, featuring artwork specially created to accompany the gothic poem Battle of Largs by Greenock's very own John Galt was well received. Which is good....as we will have some more news to share on this project next year...

One of our most viewed posts from way back in January, was actually not about heritage at all, but some well meant, hard learned advice from myself about finding funding for projects, and how the "community" bit isn't what you add in to get the project to look nice for funders, but instead, the fundamental building block for the whole process.

Tin Jimmy by Andy Lee

In March we shared a page from a comic strip featuring "the robot James Watt built", Tin Jimmy. And we will have more, slightly longer adventures for our Victorian Robot in 2015. Meantime you can read James Watt's own notes on the robots creation right here... In a similar vein, news of An Ancient UFO sighting in Greenock caused quite a stir...

And we haven't actually talked much about it yet, but it would be remiss not to mention how much fun Andy and I had working with the Gies Peace project and St Ninian's Primary Seven in Gourock all through November and December on a particularly wintery comic...Coldheart. Here's a wee sneaky peak...

So aye, 2014 has been a busy and rewarding year for us, but there have been a few other heritage projects delivering across Inverclyde over the year as well, so props to Rig Arts Are Ye Askin project,  the major event that was White Gold at the Sugar Sheds, Dutch Gable House's WWI drama project which you can watch here, the Absent Voices project, which explored the history of the Sugar Sheds and produced a whole archive of creative responses to that story and of course the start of Inverclyde's Great War project. Hats off all round.

We also turned Fifteen in 2014, which was nice, especially as we seem busier now than we have ever been. 2015 is shaping up nicely too, but there will be lots of time to talk about that next year. For now, here's another chance to see the trailer for our upcoming Time and Place project, featuring a new soundtrack from the band British Sea Power. The film and accompanying exhibition will be displayed in February...

Thanks for reading!

13 Commonwealth Tales - Out in the Wild

the beautiful people

We had great fun launching our 13 Commonwealth Tales book earlier this month at the Dutch Gable House, and nearly 400 copies were distributed during Doors Open Weekend. Excellent stuff.

We'll be sending  copies out to local schools /libraries throughout October, but in the meantime, if you've missed out, you can still get copies from either 7 1/2 John Wood Street in Port Glasgow or the ground floor of The Dutch Gable House in Greenock. When they're gone, they're gone!

Next month will see the final part of our Commonwealth Tales project - featuring Sir Glen Douglas Rhodes, and we'll also be running an evening of scary stories in Dutch Gable and launching our Time and Place exhibition.

For a change, instead of mythical creatures or monster, here's some photos of members of 'The Torch', as our folklore based biker gang would surely be called, and if you wish, you can also enjoy myself and Mhairi blethering to Inverclyde TV about the project. Big thanks to everyone else who helped on the night, especially bysharonwithlove and milkywithtwo.

zuckerbeckers fonz impression

redandcaramel tells us a story

andy, al, artists

the curator speaks

13 Commonwealth Tales - Out This Weekend

Get yourself along to the Dutch Gable House this Doors Open weekend (September 13/14), to get your FREE copy of 13 Commonwealth Tales, supported by National Lottery Celebrate fund. Here's a wee sneak peek inside at the Solomon Island giants and a page from Captain Kidd's journal...

And in case you missed it before, here's our lovely cover...

Magic Torch @ Dutch Gable Doors Open Day

As ever, there's a great line up of buildings to visit in Inverclyde on Doors Open Day. We hope you will pop along to Dutch Gable House to see some of what Magic Torch have been up to over our busy year.

As I think I may have mentioned, we will be launching our new storybook, 13 Commonwealth Tales, and thanks to National Lottery Celebrate funding, it will be available for FREE over the weekend. The fully illustrated book retells folktales from commonwealth countries featuring all sorts of strange and wonderful creatures.

There will also be an opportunity to see a preview of our Battle of Largs Exhibition which reinterprets the gothic poetry of Greenock writer John Galt into a series of atmospheric comic art pieces.

However, there's other stuff going on in the Dutch Gable House as well. Downstairs in the Green Room, there's a World War One cafe, with a chance to pick up a copy of the commemorative newspaper from our Working the War project, which shares Inverclyde news stories from throughout the war. We will also be showing a recording of the popular drama performance created by St Columba's pupils and performed at the Albany earlier this year.

And on Sunday only, artist Alastair Cook will be along to do some of his collodion photography. Alastair ran a smashing collodion workshop for us a few weeks back, and has been working with us on the Time and Place project.

There's loads of places to go and see, all worth a visit, but of special interest this year, as a newly opened property, is the Tobacco Warehouses - had a wee wander around them over the last few weeks, really impressive space. And for a touch of class...check out 6Art as well. It's all good.

Andy and Mhairi - Scribblers for Hire

Scooby Doo and the Gang, with my wee Molly, chased by Captain Kidd
by Andy Lee

We've been really lucky these last two years, to work with a couple of smashing artists...and we like to really challenge them with various eldritch horrors and folk nightmares. But did you know, you can also commission them to do pieces of artwork for you, friends or family? I'm just one of the folks who has done just that over the last year, and above you can see a special Scooby Doo illustration Andy did for my daughter, below is an illustration Mhairi did for an Alice in Wonderland story I wrote for my wife for our 10th Wedding Anniversary.

You can see lots of Andy's other work and find out how to contact him at Call of the Deep or find him and his sketchbooks on instagram. Mhairi is at Mhairi M Robertson.

And hey...obviously there are lots of other cool local artists and crafters you could be supporting too, some of whom will no doubt be appearing at the next Violet Skulls Market in Dutch Gable House. Apparently it's Christmas coming up...why not do something a wee bit different this year...something special.

Alice, discussing the finer points of relativity with a watchmaker
by Mhairi Robertson

And keep a wee eye out, as Mhairi and I may well be shortly launching a kickstarter for another book.

All The Things...

the volunteers of magic torch are delighted with a busy year

We have been really fortunate this year to receive support from a whole range of funders. We have loads going on over the next few months, and so we felt it was important to just stop, take a wee breath, and remind you about each of our projects individually...but yknow, also all at the same time.


13 Commonwealth Tales is supported by the Celebrate Fund, created to help communities recognise the Commonwealth Games in different ways. We've already had some storytelling days and right now the project is just finishing production on two books, 13 Commonwealth Tales, an illustrated childrens book collecting traditional stories from Commonwealth countries and Uncommon Tales, a comic in which Sir Glen Douglas Rhodes explores some of the darker folklore of the Commonwealth. Thanks to Lottery funding, limited copies of both of these books will be made available for FREE in September and October.


Time and Place is supported by Awards For All Scotland, and is sharing creative responses to Inverclyde past, present and future. Exhibitions and music created by the project will be on display in The Dutch Gable House throughout October and November.


Achi Baba is supported by Heritage Lottery Fund and will explore an important part of Inverclyde's World War One history in comic form. The comic book will be published in July 2015, on the centenary of the battle.


Alongside that, we have our own self supported project, The Battle of Largs, which has created an exhibition based on John Galt's gothic poem, using artwork from Andy Lee and woodcraft created by local social enterprise Newark Products.

And of course you can still access our kids book Wee Nasties on scribd and ibooks, and our vintage horror comic Tales of the Oak, from last year's project Tales of the Oak, supported by Heritage Lottery Fund Our Heritage.

So aye, busy times. Good times too. Probably our most action packed year since we started. It's worth noting, that all of the grants above, are under 10k, awarded through funding streams which are ideal for smaller groups. I wrote a wee blog post at the start of the year with my own thoughts about funding, and if you, or your group has an idea for projects, why not try making them happen?

Hopefully we'll see you at some of our events over the next few months.

13 Commonwealth Tales - Cover Reveal

With props to our artist Mhairi and our mysterious designer Black Cassidy, here's the rather sumptuous cover for our new 64 page book 13 Commonwealth Tales, supported by the Celebrate Fund.

Packed full of monsters, fair folk, superstitions and even a limerick, there's something for everyone in this journey around Commonwealth folklore, undertaken by our own questionable folk hero, Captain Kidd.

The book will be launched on Thursday September 11. If you would like to come along to the book launch on Thursday evening to hear some of the stories and enjoy a few refreshments, we have some tickets spare, simply email us with the answer to the following question...

What is the name of the spider god and King of Stories we have recently featured on our blog?

Answers to aulddunrod@gmail,com

However, don't worry, for if you miss out on Thursday, further FREE copies will be available exclusively from the Dutch Gable House during Doors Open Days on September 13th / 14th. Our two previous FREE books have been snapped up quickly and our now only available as downloads. So don't miss out!

actual photograph of Captain Kidd's famous logbook. kind of.

13 Commonwealth Tales...Soon...

what secrets are hidden in Kidd's mysterious journal...

Tomorrow we will reveal the cover for our new book 13 Commonwealth Tales, and let you know how to get your hands on a copy before anyone else.

Be sure to check in with us on Wednesday...

13 Commonwealth Tales - Sketchbook Nightmares

Chickcharney! Chickcharney attack!

A few wee glimpses into Mhairi's sketchbook for 13 Commonwealth Tales. Mhairi will be bringing her sketchbook along to our book launch and Doors Open Day if you want to see how the book artwork all came together...or...yknow...get freaked out...

Anansi - 13 Commonwealth Tales

We're all about Anansi this week, and so here is Mhairi M Robertson's Anansi illustration from our forthcoming 13 Commonwealth Tales storybook. We'll be launching the book in September, more info soon, but Mhairi has done a grand job with the illustrations for each story, from scary island giants to cheerful forest spirits, each piece is totally distinct and rather special. We can't wait to share more of them with  you.

And don't forget our Commonwealth Storytelling at Dutch Gable House this Saturday...

13 Commonwealth Tales - Preview

We've already shared some of Andy's new artwork for the Uncommon Tales comic, time now for a teeny tiny glimpse of what Mhairi has been up to for our other book. These aren't finished pieces, just a wee keek inside her notebook for the project so far, showing Rainbow Serpent and Tata Duende.

We worked with Mhairi on Wee Nasties last year, but 13 Commonwealth Tales shares stories from cultures all across the world, and Mhairi's found some wonderful, colourful and rather clever ways to reflect this in her artwork. Also, she's reeeeaaaally doing her research, so feel free to ask her about 17th Century sailing ships, aboriginal artwork or mysterious lights around the Solomon islands if you bump into her in the street.

13 Commonwealth Tales will be launched on Saturday September 13 on Doors Open Day at The Dutch Gable House. You won't be wanting to miss that.

13 Commonwealth Tales!

Glasgow 2014

We are delighted to announce that as part of Big Lottery's Celebrate Fund, we have been awarded £9285 for our new project 13 Commonwealth Tales.

The project builds on the success of last years storytelling project and ties in with cultural celebrations for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

13 Commonwealth Tales will involve us researching and retelling ten traditional folk tales from around the Commonwealth, along with a traditional tale from the UK and one from our own area of Inverclyde. We also hope to make contact with similar groups in other commonwealth countries and invite them to continue and contribute to a new folktale which will start here, and travel around the Commonwealth being added to.

All the stories explored and collected, will form the basis of two publications. The first will be an illustrated children's book retelling the stories in a very straightforward manner to encourage retelling. It will feature Captain Kidd following a map around the Commonwealth looking for hidden treasures and will be illustrated by Mhairi M Robertson, who worked with us last year on Wee Nasties.

The other, Uncommon Tales, will be a 32 page comic, charting the adventures of Sir Glen Douglas Rhodes as he travels the Commonwealth on the run from the sinister local cult, the Cluthee, with mysterious artefacts from his collection. The childrens book will be published and distributed for free to local schools and at a celebration event in September. The comic will be made available exclusively in digital form, also for free. It will be illustrated by Andy Lee, our resident artist, currently busy painting vikings and steampunk robots.

As part of the project we will also be working with pupils in partnership with the superb Digital Commonwealth project, sharing new digital skills for storytelling. The project will conclude with a storytelling festival, with local and national storytellers sharing commonwealth tales in the historic Dutch Gable House, along with an exhibition of illustrations from the project celebrating the stories and characters of commonwealth folktales.

The Commonwealth Games presents a real opportunity for us to explore, celebrate, compare and contrast the cultures of other commonwealth countries and of course in times past, Greenock was a vital port in the trade across the empire and commonwealth, so has connections and associations with many commonwealth countries.

Our free open events and storytelling training will be scheduled throughout summer 2014 to capitalise on the Commonwealth Games. The project seeks to explore cultural similarities and differences apparent in how we tell stories and what we share. 

There will be lots more info on all of this very soon, best way to keep up with what's going on is here on the blog or via our twitter. As ever, the whole project is volunteer led...but as we all know, voluntary doesn't mean amateur.

Over the next few months on the blog, we'll be sharing traditional tales and mysteries from the Commonwealth, even just a quick glance at what's out there has revealed spider gods, rainbow serpents, sharktopus teeth, monkey ghosts, wendigo and goatsuckers. Sounds like fun...

For more information, contact aulddunrod@gmail.com

Wee Nasties - Free Download

Wee Nasties by Paul Bristow

We still have a few copies of the original book which we'll make available again later in the year, but in the meantime, here's a copy you can enjoy right now, for FREE.

Wee Nasties Competition! A Frog Story

Almost 500 copies of Wee Nasties have been distributed this week, thats brilliant. So there should maybe be enough folk to help us with the wee competition above.

The book will still be available from Dutch Gable and your local library this week, so there's still time to nab yourself a copy...

The Wee Nasties Are Coming!

Here's a video to accompany our new book Wee Nasties. We have copies to give away from Thursday 16 May at The Dutch Gable House as part of the Inverclyde Festival of Heritage. You can also see an exhibition of Mhairi's lovely artwork there.

We'll be at The Dutch Gable House from 16 - 19 May, and from the following week, there will also be some FREE copies available from Inverclyde Libraries. When they're gone, they are gone, but don't worry, we'll be making a digital version available later in the month.

A big thank you to Heritage Lottery Fund Scotland for supporting this project.

You can hear some other silly kids poems here...

Sketches of some Wee Nasties

Our childrens book Wee Nasties is coming together nicely. We already shared some of the interior artwork with you, but here's a wee keek inside Mhairi's sketchbook from the project.

Shop Local for Christmas....

detail from Bloom by Mhairi M Robertson

If you are looking for something different for folk this Christmas, and want to support local artists and enterprise while yer doing it, here's a few suggestions...

First up, why not treat someone to a print from local artist Mhairi Robertson. Mhairi takes her inspiration from local folklore and so her striking and original artwork all has a story to tell. She is very busy just now illustrating for our childrens book next year. Visit Mhairi's gallery here and get choosing...

For a whole range of wooden gifts and goods, many with a local heritage connection, pop along to Inverclyde Community Development Trust's shop at The Dutch Gable House. You'll find traditional woodcuts of local myths and legends, historic ships and handmade Christmas decorations, rustic cheeseboards and nativity scenes all made with reclaimed and recycled wood. If you're very lucky, you might also still be able to grab a FREE copy of the Trust's Identity Graphic Novel / Greenock Morton book.

The Dutch Gable House is also one of the places you can get your hands on Scotchpotch, a miscellany created and collected by our good friends at Greenock Writers Club. All profits to charity as well!

Magic Torch will also have an EXCLUSIVE stocking filler in the shop this year, from our all new Magic Torch Comics imprint, a fully licensed replica of Thriller Picture Library - Captain Kidd Buccaneer, a tale of swashbuckling skullduggery on the high seas featuring Greenock's very own questionable pirate William Kidd. Only available at The Dutch Gable House from mid-December, and for less than half the price of a pie supper*.

There are of course lots of other local retailers and artisans you can buy from this Christmas, you'll find much more comprehensive listings than ours on MyTownHomepage and Simply Local. For example, Gourock Kempock Street Traders Christmas Shopping Night on Thursday 6th December.

Local shops, for local people. In a good way.


*correct at time of blog entry, Pie Supper prices may fluctuate rapidly rendering this comment slightly less accurate